BG John

As I have a surplus EM gauge Airfix one, either I convert it back to OO to run on the OO layout I'm planning, or knock it up into something a bit like a 517 to solve my 1905ish EM loco shortage, until I can build something better. If it turns into a 517, I just might be tempted to solve my OO loco shortage with a new 58xx.

5811 isn't on the list on page 1, but one of the 58xxs that is has topfeed.

5801, which was the one still in GWR livery when it was scrapped in 1958, didn't have top feed in the photos posted many pages back.

But all that detail could tend to make people reluctant to chop one up into something resembling a 517 class, while doing it to an Airfix one wouldn't feel so bad!

It doesn't help with the bay window question, but have you seen this photo? You have to be registered to zoom in, but it shows the houses being discussed http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw039806 This one gives a good general view of the station http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw039804 There may be more showing bits of the station in you search for Bodmin.

I've just bought these, that seem OK so far on a Scalesenes building I've been making. There's lots of choice in felt tipped pens, but it was hard finding exactly what I was looking for, as I wanted a variety of fairly subdued colours, and lots of them seem too bright. Suggestions for better ones would be appreciated, as they are little use on thick edges that have glue on them (although that won't apply to overlays locos and rolling stock).

My intended Quickie will consist of two doors, but only two major buildings, plus a few small bridges. It may still be a slower job than yours though!

That's why I bought mine, as I was getting bored waiting for the Terriers to appear. As it turned out, I only got the layout working a few days before the Terriers arrived anyway! As you've just added paper panels, do the edges show in real life, as they are visible in the photos? Or will you be doing something that hides them? I was wondering if I could do something similar to mine, which is black, for a fictitious Robertsbridge & Pevensey Railway livery, that has a bit of a Colonel Stephens influence, but wasn't sure where to start.

To the cab? There are also a lot of other changes needed to take it back to the correct date. For the early 1900s, I ought to change the smokebox door, and replace the sand boxes with new ones above the footplate, as well as heavy riveting on the cab. Before that, I think the wheels and coupling rods are wrong, plus various other things. I've seen more details somewhere on RMweb. For my 1905ish light railway, I think the directors may have been accompanied to the Hudswell Clarke factory by their friend HG Wells, who on learning that there were no locos available in stock, leapt into his time machine and brought one back from the 1920s!

So far I've only made offers on things where I'd be happy to pay the BIN price, but if they've taken the trouble to be willing to haggle, it only seems fair to take them up on it. I then start to worry that if they don't respond within a few minutes, someone else may buy it, and have to try hard to stop myself paying the BIN price to relieve the stress it's causing me!

Another problem with offers is regretting not making one low enough! I offered £150 on a £175 item that was already surprisingly cheap, and it was immediately accepted. I still wonder if I could have gone lower, as I thought I was pushing my luck and didn't dare go lower! I've just bought something where the BIN was £7.25, I offered £6, and accepted the counter offer of £7, because it wasn't worth haggling over less than a quid, and I'd played the game by making an offer anyway. I had one private sale when I think the seller must have chosen the wrong option, as he refused my offer, and changed it to a straight BIN!

I'll have a surplus set one of these days, when I start converting my Bodiam into Rolvenden. Are these, that currently don't have a picture, the sticky up above the footplate pipes that Bodiam should have, but doesn't?

I've just discovered, via another topic not entirely unrelated to the photo in the previous post, that DCC Supplies have a variety of spare parts available: http://www.dccsupplies.com/cat-7442/terrier.htm According to this news item, they may have other parts too.

I've got a Bachrus 50 Series, supposedly for 15-23mm gauges, but before buying it I confirmed that it would open up to 28mm for my 4mm broad gauge stock. I've now discovered it will take 32mm gauge as well, so I can run my O gauge locos on it, although I'm a bit cautious about the weigh and size of them, even though I won't be having anything bigger than an 0-6-0. I've run one of my Dapol Terriers in on it without a problem.

Just because you have three sidings in a small space, it doesn't have to be only a "3D puzzle". Lots of real places have/had three sidings. It depends on how you present it. My British O gauge micro layout is a 3-2-2 inglenook, but I've aimed to make two sidings look as though they are the ends of much longer sidings that continue off stage, and to get to the other one you have to run along a short part of the "main line" through the industrial site. It only works in 4ft (plus fiddle yard) with short wheelbase wagons, but presumably more could be squeezed in with HO bogie wagons.

I'm glad I'm modelling a railway that only had two, and I've got them both already! Although I suppose there could be one on hire from the Brighton. No, I mustn't go there .

There are some nice photos of the H&P railway here. I've got too many other projects on the go to even consider it though!

I'd prefer an H&P fireless loco, as I drove one of them, but a Peckett or two would fit my favoured modelling period, and a small corner of H&P's system could make an interesting micro layout.

There's only one preserved Radial in LSWR livery, and it may be ideal if you're modelling the Bluebell Railway. One in genuine LSWR condition would probably appeal to most of those buyers, and may create a market for pre grouping models, where several could be sold to one customer. With more products being duplicated, maybe it's a way to expand the market, as an increasing number of modellers weren't born in the steam age, so maybe pre-grouping steam may appeal to some just as much as BR and grouping eras, if products were available. It did to me, as I became interested in railways very shortly after steam had ended in the south, and never had a chance to get up north to see the very last of it.

Your command is my wish! Martin Brent AJ Couplings.pdf

This is Martin Brent's 4mm AJ Jig. Probably the first time it's been out of the packet since I bought it! I can scan the instructions if you like.

I was watching this one, as I thought that for a couple of quid they would be useful to have around http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-O-gauge-sitting-passengers-painted-new-/231757605400?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&autorefresh=true&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=RYDRdtj6Sei2CSKaEzmyjl9yCrw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc If I actually had a use for them I would have spent just under four quid buying new ones! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50pcs-Painted-Model-Train-Seated-People-Passengers-Sitting-Figures-O-Scale-1-50/151659242190?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140107083358%26meid%3Df1d802e6bf064d8ebf65d50eb5ab637e%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D7%26sd%3D231757605400 Unless the buyer was in a hurry and thought it was worth paying extra to avoid the slow plane from China.

Does this ability to produce any variant include them as built, and in the early 1900s (genuine LSWR, not preserved in LSWR livery)? And if so, will they make them?

I installed the latest free version of PagePlus, and it's a bit different to the version in the screen shots in the book. The only PagePlus specific thing in the book seemed to be how to make curves, as the program doesn't have a facility for doing them, so I don't think it matters what software you use. I'm sticking with Inkscape and GIMP, as my aim is to use this technique to produce the paint layers for models I produce on my Silhouette. Now I've got PagePlus, I'll probably just use it for desktop publishing, which is what it was created for, and what I used it for many years ago when it first came out.

For 28.08mm gauge, the back to back should be between 26.92 and 27.00mm, so presumably it's built to a narrower gauge to take courser wheels, although the Broad Gauge Society don't have a recommended standard for one, so it could be anything. Not that it has courser wheels, so it could be an interesting job to get it to run on the buyer's layout!